Accidents down during Spring Festival in China

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Traffic accidents during this year's Spring Festival were down about 50 percent from last year, according to a Saturday statement from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

It noted that no heavy or large-scale traffic congestion was reported and traffic accidents in which three or more people died dropped by 76.7 percent year on year.

No serious fire-related accidents or firework-related deaths were reported during the holiday period from Feb. 9 to 15, said the statement.

A fire-related accident is defined as "serious" if the death toll reaches between 10 and 30.

In addition, the police said 25 million people attended 1,784 large-scale activities across the country during the holiday, including 371 gatherings with more than 10,000 participants. All of these events ran safely and smoothly.

A separate press release from the railway authority also reported "sound operations" during the week-long holiday in which railways handled 34.68 million passengers.

Railway safety staff seized over 80,000 pieces of dangerous items carried by passengers, including 895,000 firecrackers and over half a tonne of chemicals, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, police detained 106 suspects in a crackdown on ticket scalping, it said.